A
municipal ordinance in Cuenca approved last year, which has not yet entered
into force, will regulate the accommodation classified as ‘informal’ promoted
on digital platforms.

According to data from the Hotel Association of Azuay in 2018, the average occupation in the formal places was 38%.

Ordinance
that regulates the cantonal system of tourism in Cuenca is the name of the
regulation that in its art. 23 “prohibits the exercise of provision of
tourism goods and services in the canton of Cuenca without having the
respective annual operating license.”

Otherwise,
the ordinance states, “shall be sanctioned in accordance with the
provisions of current legislation of the matter”, as supplemented in
Article 60.

Although
it does not enter into force due to an administrative delay, its dissemination
has already generated the claim of some citizens because it would prevent the
use of accommodations promoted on platforms such as Airbnb, where houses,
apartments and other places are rented for a specific period of time.

For
the president of the Chamber of Tourism of Azuay, Patricio Miller, going
against a worldwide trend of offering rest sites would be impossible, so he
clarified that the main objective is that the places offered on the Internet
comply with legal requirements and administrative.

Based
on this, Councilwoman Carolina Martinez, president of the Commission of
Economic and Tourism Development, said that another reason is the “number
of complaints” about homes that do not have adequate security and until
they were used as motels.

Evading
the payment of taxes and patents “does not allow the development of the
formal sector,” he said.

That
is why it was also agreed that personnel of the Municipal Foundation of
Tourism, Urban Control and Historical Areas will verify if they have all the
services and guarantees.

But
the reading that Juan Alvarado has, user and host of the hosting advertised on
Airbnb, is that the system is not well analyzed by the authorities and guilds.
He considered that the only loser is the traveler.

“It tries to block the use in its original form and the user has fewer options to travel or transport in a time when the internet has changed everything,” he said. (I)